Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technology for resuming processing in the case where a series of processing that includes a plurality of steps is interrupted.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is technology that has a function of resuming processing from where the processing was interrupted, in the case where a printing system interrupts processing that is being executed partway through (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-32604). For example, the page number at which the printing was interrupted is saved as interruption information when printing is interrupted partway through, and, at the time of resumption, the printing is resumed from the page at which the printing was interrupted based on the interruption information. However, with a series of processing that is constituted by a plurality of mutually related steps, the printing may need to be resumed not from the interrupted step but from a few steps before the interrupted step.
For example, inkjet printers print by discharging ink droplets from a plurality of nozzles arrayed in a print head and adhering the ink droplets to a sheet. However, there is a problem in that printing quality drops due to shift in the adhesion position of the ink droplets caused by factors such as error in the attachment position of the print head. In order to avoid this problem, common inkjet printers are provided with an adjustment function for correcting shift in the adhesion position of ink droplets.
With this adjustment function, shift in the adhesion position of ink droplets is corrected by a printing step for printing various types of adjustment patterns and a setting step for setting adjustment values with reference to the printed adjustment patterns being repeated a plurality of times. Here, in the case where processing is interrupted during an intermediate setting step, it is desirable to be able to select whether to resume from the interrupted setting step or from the printing step before the setting step according to the state of the adjustment patterns referred to in the setting step.
Resuming from the printing step before the setting step is appropriate in the case where there is a problem with the printing result of the adjustment patterns or the printed adjustment patterns have been lost, and resuming from the setting step is appropriate in other cases. However, with the conventional resumption method, processing could only be resumed from the interrupted step, and thus it was not always possible to resume processing at the appropriate step.